1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a test handler and, more particularly, to an insert mounted onto a carrier board of a test handler.
2. Description of the Related Art
A test handler is an equipment that transfers produced semiconductor devices to a tester to test the semiconductor devices, and then sorts the tested semiconductor devices according to the test result before the semiconductor devices are sold on the market. Detailed technology related to the test handler has already been disclosed in publications, such as Korean Patent No. 10-0553992.
The test handler is configured to include a plurality of carrier boards (including a ‘test tray’) that are loaded with semiconductor devices and circulate through a preset path in the test handler.
In general, the test handler loads semiconductor devices from a customer tray onto a carrier board at a loading site, transfers the semiconductor devices loaded onto the carrier board to a tester at a test site, and then unloads the tested semiconductor devices from the carrier board onto a customer tray at an unloading site. To this end, the test handler is configured in such a way so as to allow the carrier boards to circulate through a circulation path that includes a loading site, a test site, and an unloading site.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a conventional carrier board. The conventional carrier board 10 is configured in such a way that a plurality of inserts 11 (which is also referred to as a carrier module) are mounted on a frame 12 in a matrix form. One insert 11 is configured that one or more semiconductor devices are placed thereon. In FIG. 1, the insert 11 is shown as an example upon which one semiconductor device is placed.
Since the carrier board circulates through a preset path in the test handler, it includes a holding unit installed to an insert for stably holding semiconductor devices placed onto the insert. The holding unit is hereinafter referred to as a ‘latch unit.’ Technology related to the latch unit has been disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-0003893 entitled “INSERT AND TRAY FOR HANDLING ELECTRONIC PARTS, AND ELECTRONIC PART HANDLING APPARATUS,” which is called ‘Conventional art 1’, and Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-0125136 entitled “CARRIER MODULE FOR TEST HANDLER OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES,” which is called ‘Conventional art 2.’
Regarding Conventional art 1:
Referring to FIG. 8 and the corresponding portion disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-0003893 of Conventional art 1, the latch unit having the latch 164 and elements for operating the latch 164 is separated into parts and installed to the insert, respectively.
Conventional art 1 has the following problems:
When semiconductor devices to be tested are replaced with different sized semiconductor devices and thus the placing compartments of the inserts (corresponding to an IC receiving part 19 in Conventional art 1) are not suited to the replaced semiconductor devices, the inserts or the carrier board must be replaced as a whole. Replacing the carrier board means that its frame and inserts must be also replaced, which wastes both the frame and inserts. Similarly, even though only the inserts are replaced, resources included in the replaced inserts are also wasted.
In general, the unit cost of production of insert is determined by the unit cost of the insert body formed by injection molding (corresponding to the insert bodies 161 and 161′ in Conventional art 1), the unit cost of a latch unit, the unit cost of manually assembling a latch and elements for operating latch, which are parts of the latch unit to an insert body, etc.
When semiconductor devices are replaced with different sized semiconductor devices during the use of the inserts of Conventional art 1, the inserts must be replaced. In particular, if the individual parts of the latch unit are to be reused, they must be disassembled and reassembled. However, the parts may be damaged in the disassembling and reassembling processes. Also, the replacement time is increased due to the difficulty of the disassembling and reassembling processes, and thus the rate of operation of the test handler is limited. Since it is substantially difficult to reuse resources in Conventional art 1, Conventional art 1 brings about the wastage of resources.
Regarding Conventional art 2:
Referring to FIG. 4 and the corresponding portion disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-0125136 of Conventional art 2, the latch (corresponding to the latch 130 in Conventional art 2) and the member for operating a latch, individually separated from the insert body (corresponding to the carrier body 120 in Conventional art 2), are installed to the frame (labeled 110 in Conventional art 2). That is, since the latch and the latch operating member, separated from the insert body, are installed to the frame, they can be reused after the insert body has been replaced.
However, Conventional art 2 has the following problems:
When semiconductor devices to be tested are replaced with small sized semiconductor devices, they cannot be held by the existing latch and the existing latch operating member. This is due to the latch having a limited ability to protrude toward the placing compartment (corresponding to a placing groove or a cavity labeled 122, which are used interchangeably, in Conventional art 2). As shown in FIG. 2, when semiconductor devices to be tested are replaced with small sized semiconductor devices (i.e., semiconductor devices D1 are replaced with small sized semiconductor devices D2), the existing latch 21 and the existing latch operating member cannot hold the replaced semiconductor devices D2.
On the contrary, when semiconductor devices are replaced with large sized semiconductor devices, problems related to the pushers may occur in Conventional art 2. The pushers are a part that serves to push semiconductor devices to the test sockets of the tester at the test site. In general, the pusher has a cross-sectional area almost identical to that of the semiconductor device so as not to partially push the cross-sectional area of the semiconductor device, thereby preventing the micro-cracks in the semiconductor device. However, as shown in FIG. 3, when the semiconductor devices to be tested are replaced with large sized semiconductor devices (i.e., if semiconductor devices D1 are replaced with large sized semiconductor devices D3), the pushers P cannot push the semiconductor devices D3 around their edges due to the obstruction of the latch 21.
Also, when semiconductor devices are replaced with large sized semiconductor devices, especially if the size difference is large between the existing semiconductor devices and the replaced semiconductor devices, the replaced semiconductor devices cannot be placed onto the placing compartments of Conventional art 2. That is, when the replaced semiconductor devices are so large that they exceed a preset area of latch, they cannot be placed onto the placing compartment due to the latches. In that case, the latches and the latch operating members must be replaced with different sized latches and a different-sized latch operating members, respectively.
Therefore, when the semiconductor devices are replaced with different sized semiconductor devices, the latches and the latch operating members must be replaced in conventional art 2. Also, the parts included in the latches and the latch operating members must be replaced individually and respectively.
In addition, technology related to the carrier board, insert, and latch unit has been disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0486412 entitled “INSERT FOR TEST TRAY OF TEST HANDLER,” in which a carrier board is defined as a ‘test tray,’ which is called ‘Cited art 1’, and Korean Patent No. 10-0769105 entitled “INSERT AND ELECTRONIC PART HANDLING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE INSERT,” which is called ‘Cited art 2.’ The insert body is detachably coupled to the insert pocket (which is defined as a ‘guide core’ in cited art 2).
Cited art 2 discloses that the insert body is configured to include a hook mechanism and a latch mechanism, and the insert pocket loads semiconductor devices thereonto. Therefore, although semiconductor devices are replaced with different sized semiconductor devices, only the insert pocket is replaced but the insert body can be reused.
However, in cited arts 2, if the hook mechanism is damaged, the insert body must be replaced. Also, when semiconductor devices to be tested are replaced with different sized semiconductor devices, the insert pocket, one of the parts of the insert, must be replaced. Therefore, cited arts 2 still have a low reuse rate of resources.
In addition, since the parts included in the latch mechanism are small and complicated, installing and disassembling them is difficult. That is, it is difficult to install and replace the latch mechanism. These problems still exist in conventional arts.